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Occasional nonstop gas to electric to gas switching

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by normanj, Jul 10, 2006.

  1. normanj

    normanj New Member

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    in certain circumstances - at the stopped position - red light etc the car will switch from gas to electric to gas to electric non stop as if it cant decide what engine mode to use - putting it in neutral stops the problem but dealer cannot get it to happen in order to correct it - any ideas???
     
    #1 normanj, Jul 10, 2006
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Probably #3 or 4 on the most frequent questions list.

    when the battery SOC is high (green on the Energy display), such as after a long descent of a hill using regenerative braking, the car will cause this cycling of MG1 spinning up the ICE then shutting it off and repeating for several cycles. This causes some significant drain from the battery to get it back down to a level that the system is happy with.

    Realize that a too high SOC is as bad as a too low SOC and by dumping charge it helps maintain the life of the battery.

    This is completely normal, probably more common early in the life of the car and in cold weather.
     
    #2 efusco, Jul 10, 2006
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